Our ambitious Memorial Day Weekend 2015

It's time to rest and relax. We've had 2 busy, busy weekends in a row and I was out of town for the week in between. I got back from my trip to Buffalo on Thursday evening and luckily we didn't have anything planned for Friday night. I needed at least 24 hours to regroup after being on the road. On Saturday, however, we hit the road down to Charleston. It was our niece's 2nd birthday party! Considering we missed her 1st birthday party, we definitely wanted to be there for this one. My sister-in-law, Tara, did an awesome job planning the party. Everything looked so cute! She's working full-time, pregnant and due in just a few weeks and juggling life with a toddler and still managed to throw a perfect birthday party for Leece!

We pretty much hit the road as soon as we could get out in the morning. We didn't totally get done packing on Friday night....ok, who I am kidding, we didn't do any packing on Friday night...so Saturday morning, we got up, got the boys changed and fed and ran around the house packing up a few things that we needed to bring. We just packed things like a change of clothes, pjs, bath stuff, a DVD for the car ride, food for Ryan, their sippy cups, snacks, etc, etc, etc. I think we got out of the house by 9:30ish. Not too bad! We made it all the way to Summerville, which is just right outside of Charleston and stopped by a Chick-Fil-A for lunch. I have learned since our last allergy appointment that CFA fries their chicken in peanut oil. Yep, I managed to feed my son chicken in peanut oil directly after leaving the allergist and learning that he tested positive for a peanut allergy. Awesome. But he did not have any sort of reaction (WHEW - big time!) and thanks to my friend Kathy for letting me know about that! So this time we got grilled chicken. Maybe I should look this up to make sure it doesn't have peanut oil. I'm adding that to my mental to-do list right now. Anyway, we fed the boys from CFA in the car while they were in their car seats to avoid the hoopla of a real lunch outing and then got back on the road for the last leg of the trip. Boys did great in the car again this trip! We got to Matt and Tara's house in time to relax a little and try to help set up for the party (or at least try not let the boys ruin all of Tara's hard work and make a mess of the house before any party guests arrived!)

The party theme was barn/farm and "party animals" and was so adorable. Here are just some of the millions of pictures I took. HA!

Sunflowers in mason jars - perfect

A "horse" - so creative!

Ryan in an adirondack chair

William

William

MaSha helping Leece get ready

Sweet birthday girl with bows in her pigtails and her straps :)

Happy birthday to Leece!

So adorable!

Beverage station

I love this party tub with the red ribbon!

A party must - balloons!

Leece with a pig balloon

How cute are these?!?!

Stokes enjoying Leece's birthday present -
a new mini-slide!

William playing with the balloons

Pretty mama & daughter & baby bump -
Tara and Leece and TBD Baby H :)

MaSha and Leece at the water table

Leece and William

Sweet cousins!

Rice Krispies treats looking like presents

All the kiddso from the party

Nope, couldn't get them to all look at the same time!

About 2 seconds after the above pictures were taken and several
of the kids have already wandered off.

He loved the horse!

Thomas, Tara and William

MaSha and Stokes

Party guests with Leece on the horse

Bennett and the balloons

William and Uncle Matt

William, Matt and Leece

Yummy food table!

Sunflower made out of grapes, cheese and a celery stick.
I love it!

Smoked BBQ - good work, Matt!

YUM!

MaSha and Ryan

Time for cake!

After the party, we got all the little ones bathed and in PJs and got to play for a minute before we hit the road again.

Leece in her chair

Leece and Uncle Thomas

Adorable cousins!
Stokes, Leece, Ryan and William

They were having so much fun!

Cousins and parents

I love our family!

Thomas and me

These were the favors from the party! How cute!
They had stuff like bubbles, stickers and rubber ducks inside.

You may be wondering why we didn't just spend the night in Charleston since it's about a 3 hour drive for us. Well, that is because we had plans for Sunday! We did have the little guys all ready for bed before we left and they pretty much slept in their car seats the whole way home. The transfer from car seat to crib went pretty well once we got home, too. Thank goodness for good sleepers!

Moving on to our Sunday plans! My mom and two of her friends, Carole and Brenda, participated in a few triathlons back in the day (think mid-80s). We had been hearing about a video of these 3 ladies shot before, during and after a triathlon in Charlotte in 1986. Carole's daughters and I were dying to see it! We made this plan to go to Brenda's lake house a long while back to have an official video viewing party. I was seriously looking forward to this so much! I couldn't wait to see my mom in a video from when she was around my age now! So on Sunday, we once again loaded up the boys, their pack n plays, diaper bags, etc etc and headed to Brenda's lake house. Her house was gorgeous and we had the best time! We had a yummy BBQ lunch and then while the boys were napping in the afternoon, we go to go out on the dock and absorb some awesome lakelife vibes. We did have to keep a close eye on the boys any time they were awake to make sure they weren't ruining anything at Brenda's beautiful house! It was such a fun day.

Ryan, William and Stokes on the porch swing

Jan, Brenda's sister, with Ryan and her granddaughter

Kate playing dress-up. She's stylish :)

Carole and Molly

outdoor area

Brenda's house is so fun! They even have a zip line in their back yard. How awesome is that?!?!

Corey on the zip line

Me on the zip line

Beth on the zip line

2 beautiful girls - Corey and Molly
These two are so special to me and are just as beautiful
inside as they are outside.

Sweet Molly!

She was so brave on the zip line

Ahhhh....lakelife

Corey and Molly

Two peas in a pod!

Corey and me

Thomas and me

Me, Carole, Corey, Molly and Beth

Just hanging out and enjoying the day

Molly was a little fish!

Paddle boat time!

Carole and Brenda with Ryan

Cute kiddos

Thomas and William

Later in the afternoon, we ate some watermelon. So quintessentially summer/Memorial Day weekend, right?!?! I had to take the boys's shirts off because this was bound to be super messy!

William

William

Stokes - he didn't eat much of it but liked squishing it.

Hahaha - look at those shorts LOL

Troublemaker (aka Stokes)

Brenda and Ryan

View of the lake driving home

Monday was Memorial Day and after 2 big day trips in a row and being away from home, we decided to just take it easy, stay home and relax. It was just what the doctor ordered for our little family.

Crazy hair, don't care: this is what my little guys looked like when I got them up from their afternoon nap on Memorial Day. Their hair was out of control! Even Stokes's, which normally doesn't get too messed up.

Stokes - post nap tears/whining

William

Ryan - I had already brushed his hair before
I took this picture! Oops.

Hanging out with Da-da on the back deck

Ryan with his SPIO vest on, just
hanging out in the adirondack

Silly boys!

Giving Da-da high fives through the deck railing

William, what are you pointing to?

Stokie and me

Ahhh Memorial Day - with fresh boiled
peanuts and an ice cold beer hanging out
with my family on a beautiful afternoon.
Doesn't get much better than that!

What a fun, fun weekend! After 2 weekends ago (Greekville Zoo) and then Memorial Day weekend full of outings and adventures, we will probably have a quiet weekend at home this week. I hope you had a fabulous and fun Memorial Day weekend, too!

Side note: why do weekends go by so quickly!?! :(